Goddesses are Off Limit (A Fantasy Short) - Part 2 of 2

Part 2 of 2

Sage pulled Diana straight to the campfire and began speaking to her in hushed tones. I really wished I had my sister’s abilities to hear something from a mile away… just so I could eavesdrop on the two strange women.

While they chatted, I looked around the campsite and tried to gather information about the people, just as Willa taught me. Willa could look at a person for the first time in her life and know more about them than they know about themselves. It’s weird for a person of this realm without magical powers to be so insightful.

Insightful isn’t even the word. Willa is just amazing. Even my sister, Sapphrie is amazed by the things Willa does that most people in this realm can’t even do with their powers.

I looked around the campsite. There was a sword sheath, bows and arrows, one backpack… The campfire didn’t seem to have any wood in it. It looked like a circle of rocks; no combustibles. As I gaped at the fire, I sensed someone looking at me and realized that it was Sage who had caught my stare.

She smirked and turned away from me to continue confering with her sister. I looked at the fire again but this time, I saw that there were small logs burning. I rubbed my eyes thinking how sure I was that there were no combustibles in that fire just seconds ago. Maybe I was just seeing things… or not seeing things.

I heard a grunt of displeasure come from Diana and then Sage was approaching me again. “Would you like to camp with us for the night?” she asked me.

Yes! I wanted to scream. Instead, I took an example from my sister as I had heard her say a million times and I said, “I don’t want to impose.”

“You’re not imposing,” said Sage. “After all, you just saved our lives.”

“You did no such thing!” Diana yelled. She was beginning to stomp towards me again but her sister held up a hand and Diana immediately stopped. In fact, the way she stopped was almost as though Diana had put up a force field.

Diana crossed her arms tightly over her chest and glared at me. I began feeling strange. It wasn’t intimidation though. Trust me, I know intimidation. I feel it on a regular basis from Willa, although she’s amazing and I care about her as a friend and a mentor.

Now I felt as though I would fall… asleep. But at the same time, I was beginning to get a terrible headache, like none I've ever felt before. I felt that my head would soon explode.

“Diana, why don’t you fnish what you were doing?” asked Sage, her tone biting, commanding.

Diana turned her head swiftly away from me and walked back to the campfire to snatch up her quiver half-full of arrows. She then walked away and seemed to disappear into the mountains. I blinked rapidly, thinking I was seeing things and trying to make my intense headache better. I thought for sure that I would blackout.

I felt a firm hand on my shoulder and the diziness that was beginning to take over my eyes quickly went away. So did my headache. I looked at Sage, who loudly asked, “Are you alright, young one?” Before I could answer, she said, “You’re probably so hungry that your body is beginning to rebel. Poor thing.” She began ushering me to the fireplace.

She practically pushed me down onto the ground beside the fireplace and shoved a canteen into my hands. Water! I wanted to scream. I had run out of water in the morning and I couldn’t find a well to save my life! I wanted to open the canteen and greedily gulp down the water but that would be rude and very unknight-like.

Courtesy of photobucket.com

“Go
ahead, you can have all,” said Sage. “We
don’t need it.”.

I didn’t
even care why they didn’t need it. I was
too thirsty. I uncorked the canteen and
tipped it above my opened mouth, greedily gulping down the water. As some of the water spilled onto my chin and
chest, I apologized for my impoliteness and wiped the water on the sleeve of my
tunic.

“So
what are you and your sister doing here?” I asked, just being friendly.

“Get
away from my sister,” I heard a voice say.
The voice sounded low, almost like a growl. Startled, I turned and was surprised to be
looking into the angry blue eyes of Diana.
Now the moon was illuminating her features. She was beautiful.

Her
honey blond hair was wavy and silky smooth, reaching the middle of her back. She wore a plain white tunic with a blue vest
over it and a belt around her slender waist.
Her brown boots reached the middle of her thighs, almost completely
covering her white trousers. Even with
her plain clothes, it was obvious that she had a fantastic body.

“I
said, get away from my sister, you man!” she hollered at me. She pushed me hard and I was stunned by her
strength. With one push, I slid back
what seemed like five feet and landed on my back. Talk about painful.

“Ouch!”
I exclaimed.

“Diana!”
Sage yelled, leaping to her feet to grasp her sister by the shoulder. “What’s wrong with you?”

Diana
was breathing heavily. A dead turkey lay
at her feet, the red feather of Diana’s arrows sticking out of it’s belly. “I’m going to kill him!” Diana growled. Was she talking about me or the turkey?

I sat
up, rubbing my back, which I just knew had to be bruised on the stones of the
mountain.

Bullet
neighed and trotted over to me. He
nudged me with his nose, trying to make sure I was alright. Sage pointed to me, “See?” she said to her
sister. “His horse likes him. Doesn’t that mean something to you?”

I could
see Diana’s body gradually relaxing. She
wasn’t clenching her fists any more and she wasn’t huffing and puffing like she
wanted to blow me away. “He’s a good
man,” said Sage.

“A good
man? HA!” Diana sarcastically said.

Within
seconds, she was in front of me. She really runs fast! She grabbed me by my
collar and pulled me up to my feet. Boy,
was she strong! She kind of reminded me
of Willa. Holding me close to her face
she said, “Prove your goodness, man.”
She sputtered the word man in my face as though it was a curse.

“Prove
it how?” I asked.

“Fight
my sister,” said Diana, pointing to Sage.

Sage
sighed loudly. “Diana,” she called in a
warning tone.

Now I
was really confused. Diana walked away
from me, muttering something about me being pitiful and weak. “Fight my sister,” she said loud enough for
me to hear.

I
looked at Sage, who was facing me, not giving me clue of what she was
thinking. After a few seconds of just staring at me, she
bent over and picked up the sword sheath.
When she drew the sword from the sheath, I felt drawn to it. Even more than I usually felt drawn to
weapons.

There
was something strange, something magical about the weapon. And not the type of magical as I can make my
weapons. This was different. Other-worldly.

Sage
held the sword in the air and when the moonlight touched it, the only words
that slipped out of my mouth were, “It’s beautiful.”

Courtesy of Google Image

Sage
began approaching me. I couldn’t help
but notice the swaying of her hips below a slender waist. She and her sister had the same body. I had to focus though. How could I fight such a beautiful
woman?

Sage had beautiful brown eyes that could draw in
any man. As she approached me, I could
feel her power. It didn’t connect to my
power so I knew she wasn’t a sorceress of any kind. I didn’t understand why I felt such
power. Sage had beautiful features too:
a perfect nose, nice lips… Ugh! I had to
focus.

Sage
looked at me and said, “Before we fight, I have a few questions to ask you… on
behalf of Diana.” I nodded, giving her
permission. I couldn’t talk. I had to concentrate. Something weird was up. “Number one: said Sage, beginning to circle
me.”

“What’s
the perfect job for a woman?”

I began
thinking about the question and felt hot air on the back of my neck. I turned and saw Diana close behind me. “Answer the question,” she said in a low
tone.

Hoo-hoo, I heard, and turned to see an
owl resting on Sage’s shoulders. Sage
seemed undisturbed; like the owl wasn’t even there. Why was that owl there? Talk about weird.

More
distractions.

“Answer
the question.”

“Anything,”
I blurted out.

“What?”
Sage and Diana asked.

“The
perfect job for a woman is anything.”

“What
is a woman’s best assets?”

I had
to think about it. I couldn’t think hard though with Sage’s owl staring at me and Diana breathing down my neck. “Whatever she’s best at,” I responded.

“Stupid
answer,” Diana sputtered.

“Why?”
I asked. “If a woman’s best at being
sensitive, it’s her best asset.” Diana
growled. “If a woman’s best at being a
great fighter then that’s her best asset,” I continued.

The
growling stopped. “How would you feel if
my sister, a woman, beats you in combat?”

Detecting
the mockery in my voice, Diana became upset again. I felt her thin hands close around my throat.

“Diana!”
Sage called.

Diana
let go of my throat.

“Listen,”
I said, coughing from the brief loss of air.
“I have nothing against women.
Women are great. I’m beaten by a
woman in combat everyday. The day I
beat her would be the day that I throw a celebration party.
I know women have strength… they can be stronger than men. I’m not afraid to admit that.

“My
mother is the Visionary consummate of this nation; the most powerful
all-seer. My sister is the queen of Suentia. My Knight Master and mentor is a woman. She’s also the queen’s champion and the best figher I
know. She can even beat her husband
who’s like seven feet tall. So, I know
the power of women.

I’m not
afraid to fight a woman but I never want to hurt a woman in combat because I
think women are precious. After all, my
mother is a woman and she did give
birth to me. Women are the mothers of
this earth. How can life continue
without women? They’re to be treated,
all of them, like royalty.”

I
turned to face Diana. “Even you, Diana. I don’t know what’s turned you against men
but not all men are bad. For those men
who are bad, well, that’s why I want to be a knight. To help defeat people like those drudels who
attacked you and Sage. I didn’t help you two
because I thought you were helpless women.
I helped because I thought you were helpless people. I would have acted the same way if you were
men.”

“No you
wouldn’t have,” said Diana. She sounded
very calm.

“You’re
darned right I wouldn’t have,” I admitted.
I might as well continue being honest, right? “Drudels don’t care to hurt men, only
women. So, of course I wanted to save
you. Of course I thought you were
damsels in distress. I didn’t want
anything to happen to another woman because of drudels. My Knight Master was violated by drudels.”

To my
embarassment, I felt tears coming to my eyes.
“And I have seen what it has done to her. I don’t want any more women to suffer.”

I had
to work very hard to hold my tears back but to my surprise, I saw tears glistening
in Diana’s eyes too. She quickly turned
away from me and began walking towards the fire where the dead turkey was. “Do you prefer leg, thigh or breast?” she
asked.

I
stared at her. “I’m not answering that
question,” I said. It had to be a trick.

Diana
stared at me angrily for a little while and then she began laughing
hysterically.

Crystal Cave 2 by =firedudewraith (DeviantART)

For the
rest of the night, we enjoyed each other’s company. Sage went off to the side to practice her
swordsmanship while I continued chatting with Diana. It was fascinating talking to her. She really liked animals. She knew everything about them. I watched her as she fed, brushed and groomed
Bullet. I was falling in love.

Just a
few hours before, I was just falling… literally... because she pushed me. But now, I really liked her. Maybe I was even beginning to love her. The way she was looking at me, I could tell
she was beginning to like me too.

Finally,
we all decided to go to sleep but not too long after, I was awaken by someone
shaking my shoulders. I opened my eyes
and looked up into Sage’s brown eyes.
“We need to talk,” she said.

I sat
up, rubbing my eyes. “We have to go,”
Sage told me.

“Wha’? Why?” I asked. I looked over to where Diana had been
sleeping next to me. Diana was no longer
there.

“Don’t
worry about her. She went off to hunt
with the pack in these parts.”

“The
pack?” I asked.

“Wolf
pack,” said Sage. “Listen, little knight-to-be. You’ll make an awesome knight and
make me proud. You have my
blessing.” She touched my head and I
felt a rush of energy fill my body. She
then reached over and touched my sword, which always remained beside me when I
slept.

When I
touched the sword afterwards, I felt that same energy. “What did you do?” I asked.

“Never
mind,” said Sage. She smiled and stood
to her feet. I noticed that Diana’s
quiver and bows were gone and that Sage had her backpack on her back. They really were leaving.

“Why
are you leaving?” I asked, feeling like crying.

“We
cannot remain here for long,” said Sage.
“We have our place and you have yours.”

Sage
began walking away. “But Diana,” I said
in a tiny little voice. I felt a knot
forming in my throat. I can’t believe I
wanted to cry. What was going on? I refused to swallow the tight knot in my
throat. “Can’t I say goodbye to her?”

“Come
on,” said Sage.

Sage
began quickly walking away before I even had the time to gather my things and
take Bullet’s reins. “Sage?” I called,
since she was out of sight.

“Follow
my voice,” I heard her say in the distance.

I did
just as she said, calling her every now and then. I followed her into a large hole in the side
of the mountain. It was a cave—which I
didn’t notice the day before. A cavern
ran through the cave and it was impossible to walk without getting my feet wet.

Stalagmites
hung from the cave ceiling and crystals glowed all around me. It was so serene. I saw a light at the end of the cave and as
Bullet and I walked through, I was surprised by what I saw.

Athena, Goddess of Wisdom by *violscraper (DeviantART)

The scene was unbelievable. We seemed to be in some ancient site. Surrounding the water were pillars and higher up, a balcony of some sort. It was like a utopia, the places you see only in your imagination. On one of the pillars, sat the woman I had so quickly fell in love with. She looked beautiful with the moon framing her figure. She now wore a long skirt and a short white top.

Sage, on the balcony, was draping a white fabric over her shoulders. She was dressed in white too and her owl was perched on the balcony with her. Her hair, which I though was black was actually golden brown in colour when illumated by the utopian light.

Sage came down from the balcony and approached Diana on her pillar. “Before we leave,” said Sage. “You should know our true names.”

I cocked my head, feeling like a confused dog.

“I’m Athena,” said Sage. “And my sister prefers to be called—”

Diana hopped off the pillar and held her hand over Sage—I mean Athena’s mouth. “When you come to your senses, you’ll figure out my name,” she said. “It was nice meeting you, young man,” she said, putting emphasis on man in a flirtatious way.

“Why are you going?” I asked.

“Just like men,” said Diana. “So blind to the obvious.” She placed a soft hand on my cheek and it felt like small little sparks of lightning on my skin. I didn't mind the slight stinging. At that moment I wanted to savor the tiny pain of her touch.

Sage—I mean Athena—laughed and her sister joined in her laughter as they began fading into the utopian background. As they faded, so did the utopia. Within seconds, Bullet and I found ourselves standing on the mountain again, close to falling off the edge of the cliff.

I screamed and backed away from the edge, pulling Bullet along with me. I began turning in circles. “Diana!” I called. “Sage—I mean Athena!” I continued turning in circles. I ran to the mountain and slapped my hands against the wall of the mountain. Where was the cave? I was frantic… furious. I held my hand to my cheek, which was still stinging from Diana's touch.

“Diana! Sage—I mean Athena!” I was getting mad not only because my love was gone and everything had disappeared but I kept calling Sage, Sage after she said her name was Athena.

“Wait a minute,” I said to myself. “Athena?” I thought about it. “Athena and Diana.” I repeated the two names to myself several times than I tried to figure out what Diana said when she told me I would figure out her name.

Artemis and Athena (Photos from DeviantART.com)

It was now morning and the sun was rising. I angrily grasped Bullet’s reins and began walking away, continuing on the stupid journey that Willa sent me on. Well, this was extraordinary but how can I prove it. I couldn’t even prove it to my self. “Diana,” I said. I felt tears about to leave my eyes and I thought, my friends would defintiely laugh at me now.

“Diana,” I repeated. “What do you mean I’ll figure out your name?”

“Sage is Athena. So Diana is… Wait a minute. Athena?”

Bullet neighed at me.

“Athena?” I repeated. “She did have an owl and she did have weapons. But what about Diana?” Could it be? No.

I hopped on Bullet’s back and began riding like a madman back to Wryemrack, clutching my sword the whole way. It took only one month to get back.

When I got back onto the palace grounds, I knew right away that Willa wasn’t there because her horse was’t roaming free. I rode Bullet to the Academy of Galantry where Willa sometimes worked and luckily, she was on the archery range, helping one of the pages learn to hold a proper stance.

“Lady Willa!” I yelled, just outside of the gate to the range. I didn’t feel like entering the academy to get inside the range. I climbed up on the gate and yelled as loud as I could, “I’m back!”

Willa looked my way, probably surprised I was back so quickly... or maybe not so quickly. I don't know which. She began quickly approaching the gate. I was still out of breath and could barely talk by the time she got to me. I pulled my sword from my belt and dropped it over the gate. It landed in the grass, the hilt pointing up towards the sky.

Willa grasped the hilt wordlessly and then quickly pulled away from it as though it had burned her. Shaking her hand with a bewildered look on her face, she stared up at me. “Explain,” she demanded.

“Athena, touched my sword and gave me her blessing and I…” I was still trying to catch my breath. “I fell in love with Artemis.”

Willa gave a big smile, looked down at my sword and slowy shook her head. “Reguric goddesses, eh?” she asked. “Pity,” she said, quickly wiping the smile off her lips. “No chimeras?”

I looked at her as though she was crazy. Looking diappointed, Willa shook her head again and began walking away but when she looked over her shoulder, I saw the look of satisfaction on her face. I’m happy I could make my Knight master proud. I owe her so much.

This experience has made me feel like a better person and now I feel that I can make a good knight and warrior of sorcery. I've learned something important about myself: how much I truly respect women. My friends can laugh at me all they want I don't care.

Still, I'm telling you, I’m hexed. Why else would I be so unfortunate to fall in love with a goddess?

Note to self: Suam Sister warriors are off limits and goddesses are off limits. Oh well, back to training with my female Master Knight.

Picture it. Friday morning, 7 AM... My class starts at 9 AM an hour away from my home and I'm a college commuter. I've just woken up and my brain is a little slow in the morning, so, my body is as well. I eat breakfast...

A comprehensive Hub on Pocahontas, including very brief reviews on the Disney Animation Movie and the New World. Dates from her birth to her death. Includes information on the Official Jamestown Settlement (tourist...

Please Comment 18 comments

I did enjoy this. The closure at the end was simply satisfying. I especially like the personality of the narrative style. Phrases such as "Talk about painful" and "Note to self: ...Goddesses are off limits... Oh well..." really add to the character's uniqueness. Your fantasies is truly fantastic! You would sure make me happy if you wrote more Reguric stories.

~AC

kaltopsyd 6 years ago from Trinidad originally, but now in the USA Author

Haha, thank you for using the vocab of the Paraome Realm (like Reguric). AC, I'm glad you enjoyed it and found the ending satisfying. I was hoping it would suffice. I have problems ending a story so short stories are extremely difficult for me.

Since I was in elementary school, I would always pass the limit of my writing assignment. Most people had trouble writing a lot, I had trouble writing a little. Hehe. I'm just odd that way.

Thank you again for your support on this Hub. I thought I would receive no comments. Thanks again!

ACSutliff 6 years ago

K Alto,

I've always been able to write a lot too. Way too darn much, to be honest. I've never really ended a story before, ever, so the end to my new one will be interesting. Like I already said, I was satisfied with the end to this one. I hope you keep writing stuff for your Paraome Realm. It's fun!

kaltopsyd 6 years ago from Trinidad originally, but now in the USA Author

Thanks, AC. I write "way too darn much" too. Haha. I'm glad you were satisfied with the end (oh, I already said that). Depending on how people feel about these stories, I'll keep writing. Well... you like it so far so that's all that counts right. Haha. :D Thanks for the encouragement.

ACSutliff 6 years ago

I hope so! It's all that counts to me too (that you like my writing). I love having friends that write just like I do, and even though we haven't met, I feel like we are writing friends. I hope we can keep up this stamina to write and post and read each other's hubs forever! Haha. I know I will at least finish my new serial, and it would be funner with you along for the ride.

PS: Thank you thank you for linking to Dillon Custod! Hurray!

kaltopsyd 6 years ago from Trinidad originally, but now in the USA Author

I hope we can keep up stamina as well... we can do it. I just realized that I forgot about Thespian Lane hough. I can't forsake it yet... gotta finish that. Still, Fantasy and realistic fiction often appeal to different sets of readers and so far I have more readers (and less comments) for the fantasy stuff. I wish people will comment so I can have proof that it's liked/or not.

No problem--about the Dillon Custod link by the way. Thank YOU. And yes, this will be fun!

marvalousnj 6 years ago from Central Jersey USA

Jasper is amazing, I liked his journey especially meeting those two.

Good writing K alto.

kaltopsyd 6 years ago from Trinidad originally, but now in the USA Author

Thanks, marvalous! I'm glad you liked Jasper's journey. I've grown to like his character while writing this. Thanks for commenting!

Crazywriterchik 6 years ago from San Diego, CA

Hey K,

Wow.. that's the first thing that comes to mind. Truly impressive. Second thing that comes to mind is that I love the ending it tied everything up so well. I have yet to read the other fantasy that goes along with this one, but I am excited about it. You are a wonderful writer for someone so young.. not that I'm that much older lol.

By the way I too always seem to have a hard time staying within the word count that I am given. Sometimes it's just not enough and it seriously sucks... non writers have no idea how frustrating it is to stop a good story or whatever once you get going. It happens to the best of us which is why I'm glad Hub pages doesn't have a limit per hub. That would be terrible.. :)

-CWC-

kaltopsyd 6 years ago from Trinidad originally, but now in the USA Author

Hello CWC,

Thank you so much for the kind comment. So you have trouble staying within word-count boundaries too, eh? You, AC and I... (sigh). Yes, thank goodness HubPages doesn't have a limit. That would be horrible!

I'm glad you're another fellow fantasy lover. :)

Thanks for commenting!

silverfoxygirl108 6 years ago

Athena and Artemis :) Are you going to write an adventure where he travels to their realm and becomes a god or something so he can be with her? If not, it's cool :) haha Great hub. loved it!

kaltopsyd 6 years ago from Trinidad originally, but now in the USA Author

Haha, that's funny, Allora. What an idea? I can just imagine Jasper as a god. He won't know what to do with himself. I'll submit that to my idea box. hehe. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Nikkij504gurl 6 years ago from Louisiana

I too think im hexed...always falling for the wrong guy. Good story!

kaltopsyd 6 years ago from Trinidad originally, but now in the USA Author

Haha, well maybe you and Jasper are meant for each other. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Nikkij504gurl 6 years ago from Louisiana

haha that would be me to be meant for a fictional character lol

kaltopsyd 6 years ago from Trinidad originally, but now in the USA Author

Haha, so you agree. :-)

meow48 6 years ago from usa

wowowowow. that sums this story up. need to sleep but want to read more of your stories, well, rome wasn't built in a day, night. meow48

kaltopsyd 6 years ago from Trinidad originally, but now in the USA Author